New Report: How To Make Nuclear Innovative

What will it take to bring 21st-century innovation to the nuclear industry? A new report by the Breakthrough Institute outlines the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and the lessons that can be learned from other advanced industries.

Based on case studies from other sectors including pharmaceutical, commercial space travel, aerospace, unconventional gas exploration, the authors make a number of recommendations for modernizing nuclear innovation in the United States, including:

1. LICENSING REFORM. Licensing of new nuclear technologies will need to be reformed in order to support smaller, entrepreneurial firms and to build investor confidence as key design and testing benchmarks are achieved.

2. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. National laboratories will need to provide private companies with access to equipment, technical resources, and expertise in order to lower costs and promote greater knowledge spillover in the testing and licensing process.

3. TARGETED PUBLIC FUNDING FOR R&D. Significant and sustained research funding should be directed toward solving shared technical challenges.

4. INTER-FIRM COLLABORATION. Policy and funding should be designed to encourage knowledge spillover and collaboration between companies.

5. PRIVATE-SECTOR LEADERSHIP. Public investment in demonstration and commercialization should follow private investment and avoid early down-selection of technologies.